About US$1.8 billion in federal money for Cornell and Northwestern is frozen, the White House says

A woman walks by a Cornell University sign on the Ivy League school's campus in Ithaca, New York, on Friday, Jan. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has frozen more than US$1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and about $790 million for Northwestern University while the government investigates alleged civil rights violations at the schools, the White House said.

It’s part of a broader push of using taxpayer dollars to pressure major academic institutions to comply with President Donald Trump’s political agenda and to influence campus policy. The White House on late Tuesday confirmed the hold on the public money but offered no further details on what that meant or what grants were affected.

The Republican administration previously cut off money to Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and others, creating uncertainty for universities at at a time of reduced grants for research institutions.

Last month, the Education Department sent letters to more than 60 universities, including Cornell in New York and Northwestern in Illinois warning of “potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations” under federal law to “protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.”

The administration has argued that universities allowed alleged antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests last year against the Israel-Hamas war; the schools deny it.

In a statement, Cornell said that it had received more than 75 stop work orders from the Defense Department related to research “profoundly significant to American national defence, cybersecurity, and health” but that it had not otherwise received any information confirming $1 billion in frozen grants.

“We are actively seeking information from federal officials to learn more about the basis for these decisions,” said the statement from Michael I. Kotlikoff, the university president, and other top school officials.

Northwestern’s leaders said in a message to campus that they had not received any official notification from Washington.

The school has fully cooperated with investigations by both the Education Department and Congress, university spokesperson Jon Yates said.

“Federal funds that Northwestern receives drive innovative and life-saving research, like the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world’s smallest pacemaker, and research fueling the fight against Alzheimer’s disease,” Yates said. “This type of research is now at jeopardy.”

The freezes have jeopardized science and research without advancing the goal of creating campuses free of antisemitism, said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. “This was wrong last week, it is wrong this week, and it will be wrong next week,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Education Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Officials have already singled out Columbia University, making an example of it by withholding $400 million in federal funds.

Supporters of Israel and the administration officials have framed the protests at Columbia and other schools as antisemitic and “pro-Hamas,” but people involved in the demonstrations reject that characterization. They say advocating for Palestinian human rights and territorial claims, or criticizing Israeli military action, is not antisemitic.

As a condition for restoring Columbia’s money, as well as billions more in future grants, the administration demanded major changes in university policy. Columbia agreed to adopt a new definition of antisemitism and expand “intellectual diversity” by staffing up its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, among other things.

The New York school’s acquiescence, in part to salvage ongoing research projects at its labs and medical center, has been criticized by some faculty and free speech groups as capitulating to an intrusion on academic freedom.

The administration has made similar demands of Harvard University as a condition for receiving almost $9 billion in grants and contracts. It also has paused $510 million in grants and contracts for Brown and dozens of research grants at Princeton.

Mumphrey reported from Phoenix. Haigh reported from Hartford, Conn.

Will Weissert, Cheyanne Mumphrey And Susan Haigh, The Associated Press